The Karmic Retribution for Harboring Malicious Intent and Making Impure Offerings to a Pratyekabuddha

The Karmic Retribution for Harboring Malicious Intent and Making Impure Offerings to a Pratyekabuddha

In the past, the World-Honored One was preaching the Dharma at the Kalandaka Bamboo Grove (also known as the Bamboo Grove Monastery) in Rajagriha. One day, at mealtime, Venerable Maudgalyayana, a disciple of the World-Honored One, put on his robes, took his alms bowl, and entered the city to beg for food. After returning to his dwelling, finishing his meal, and putting away his robes and alms bowl, he sat in full lotus position under a tree.

While in samadhi, Venerable Maudgalyayana saw a hungry ghost whose entire body gave off such an overpowering stench that no one could bear to approach. He asked, "What unwholesome karma did you commit in a past life that resulted in this retribution, where your body reeks so badly no one can come near you?" The hungry ghost replied, "Please go ask the World-Honored One! He will explain the cause to you."

Venerable Maudgalyayana then went before the Buddha, paid his reverent respects, and inquired after the Buddha. The compassionate World-Honored One asked, "What unusual thing did you see today?" Maudgalyayana recounted to the Buddha, "Just now, while meditating under a tree in samadhi, I saw a hungry ghost whose body reeked far worse than human excrement. He wandered everywhere searching for human urine and feces, treating these impure substances as delicious food. World-Honored One! Why is he experiencing such a retribution?"

The World-Honored One asked Maudgalyayana, "Do you wish to know the karmic causes and conditions that gave rise to this?" Maudgalyayana replied, "I would be grateful to hear!"

The World-Honored One told Maudgalyayana, "Listen carefully, and I will explain it to you.

In the distant past, beyond innumerable asaṃkhyeya kalpas, a pratyekabuddha appeared in the kingdom of Varanasi. He often stayed in tranquil, secluded places, spread grass to make a seat, and settled his mind in meditation.

Later, this pratyekabuddha fell ill. A highly skilled physician treated him and informed him that his illness could only be cured by consuming meat. Upon hearing this, the pratyekabuddha went into the city, arrived at the home of a wealthy householder named Jishan, and begged for the meat required for his treatment.

At that time, the wealthy householder Jishan was about to go out on urgent business. Before leaving, he explicitly instructed his wife Pandara, "I have an urgent matter I must attend to outside. You must properly prepare the food and drink needed for this pratyekabuddha's treatment." His wife replied, "Do not worry, you may go. There is no need for you to concern yourself with household affairs. I will personally ensure the pratyekabuddha is provided with food." So the householder left.

However, Pandara had given rise to a mind of stinginess and greed, and thought to herself, "If I give him food today, he will surely come back again tomorrow—what a nuisance." Thinking this, she took the alms bowl from the pratyekabuddha, slipped away to a hidden spot, filled the bowl with excrement and other filthy waste, covered it with rice on top, then handed the bowl back to the pratyekabuddha. The pratyekabuddha immediately discerned the impure contents of the bowl, set it down on the ground, and departed.

Because of this karmic cause, for eons upon eons, she continuously fell into the hungry ghost realm, enduring the retribution of an unbearably foul body, and was forced to eat human excrement as if it were delicious food."

The World-Honored One told Maudgalyayana, "The householder's wife who placed the filthy substances in the pratyekabuddha's bowl at that time is precisely the hungry ghost you saw today."

When the World-Honored One expounded these causes and conditions, all the monks present let go of their own stinginess and greed, and developed a revulsion for the suffering of samsara. Among them, some attained the fruit of Srotapanna, some attained the fruit of Sakridagamin, some attained the fruit of Anagamin, some attained the fruit of Arhat, some aroused the aspiration for Pratyekabuddhahood, and some aroused the supreme Bodhicitta. All who had gathered to hear the World-Honored One’s teaching rejoiced in their hearts, believed in and accepted his words, and put them into practice.

This story is taken from the Sutra of a Hundred Tales, Volume 5.

Reflection

All worldly phenomena are governed by the law of cause and effect. Because Pandara nurtured a mind of stinginess and malice, and made impure offerings to a pratyekabuddha, she endured the karmic retribution of falling into the hungry ghost realm for eons on end, with an unbearably foul body that forced her to subsist on human excrement as food. If practitioners make offerings to the Three Jewels with pure, reverent minds, they will not only accumulate merit and blessings through wholesome deeds, but also cast off the affliction of stinginess and greed. Every step of their practice path will be illuminated, and they will attain a life of liberation and freedom.